How To

When your schedule is inconsisent like mine is, you have to grab every opportunity to bring your thoughts together. For me, that means planning out my week and each day before it begins.

No two days are the same with a two year old. There are his own daily activities that have to be planned out in addition to my own. If I wait until the last minute, I feel like I never get anything accomplished. There are also days when I feel it is a struggle to walk, but more on that in a bit.

I was listening to one of my favorite Podcasts with Amy Porterfield and Michael Hyatt as her guest, whose podcast also gets my head on straight when I feel out of focus. In episode 174, He talked about planning your ideal week based on categorizing different activities where you are in the performance, namely, front stage, back stage and off stage. There are different activities required at different stages of the process of getting you to a certain goal, whatever that goal may be. For me it is keeping content up on the web that I create so that I can continue to keep my brand alive.

My son is my top priority, but he other priority on my plate is getting my healthy back in order since his birth. It’s no secret that I have MS, diagnosed in 2007. My disease progressed somewhat after he was born, making walking just a little more difficult. Weight training 3 times a week and intense physical therapy twice a week keep me moving, in addition to my son. I don’t complain because I’m grateful that I can drive myself to get there and back and there is always someone in a worse circumstance than you that makes complaining about your own situation pretty silly.

My Previous Career as a Jazz Performer
For me, creating the ideal week was a winning concept because as a former performer, I can totally relate. I was a jazz vocalist with a regular band that I regularly booked, as well as sol gigs if I performed with tracks. The amount of work that went into each performance was ridiculously out of proportion with the amount of time I spent on stage performing in front of a live audience. There was way more time spent on the back end, with things like

– Rehearsing with my piano player to work out arrangements for the group.
– Rehearsing with all my musicians.
– Putting together a show and new set list.
– Booking new gigs
– Getting publicity

And the list goes on.

You can substitute any members on your team These are all the activities (at least the majority) that I had to take care of off stage. It is very much the same for a solopreneur. There are front stage, back stage and off stage things that you must take care of for your own show. Now it’s time to get my own show in order so I can produce content again like I used to. It’s just not that easy when your ear is always waiting for a little one to rouse from a nap, and I am not one to produce content while he is alongside me and I could be devoting my time to him. The first three years are very crucial for brain development, and I never want to look back and regret any time I didn’t spend with him in raising him to be an amazing performer in his own show.

There are new challenges to overcome every day,. Whether it’s with a very active and bright little boy who needs active mental and physical stimulation, or it’s a day where my leg and foot are just not cooperating with me no matter what I do.

So I’m off to plan out my ideal week thinking about life as a performance, and I thank Michael Hyatt and Amy Porterfield for helping me to keep my head on straight.

Question: Do you plan your day or week ahead? Do you have more items or less items on your off stage list? How do you find it best to keep your life organized?

You’re probably already using your smartphone to capture still pictures of your world, but smartphone video is an even more powerful tool to evoke emotion and life from your smartphone. In fact, it’s using the same smartphone camera, just a different mode – video. And video will take your marketing and branding to a whole new level.

Just call me the comeback kid. Smartphone video was a big reason for that. 2016 was quite an eventful year, as I transitioned into my son’s toddler phase. In 2015, I watched him grow from infant to baby and this year it was all about his first steps, first words and other exciting firsts. 2017 will uncover even more developments, as he will turn two at the end of May.

Before I share how I became a rockstar with smartphone video, I need to explain a few things that happened along the way since 2015.

You have two descriptions that help people find your relevant content – your podcast description, and your individual episode description. This episode will focus specifically on your strategy for your podcast episode description.

SEO AND PODCAST DESCRIPTIONS

Your podcast description is also another crucial place for SEO, not only for web search, but podcast search engines that will serve your amazing content to your listeners’ ears. Remember, it’s all about being relevant, so use that description to include your keywords.

Podcast Titles are an important piece of the podcasting game. If you want to be found, you have to use crucial keywords in your title in a certain place. If you already have podcasts that are live, it is never too late to go back and edit for better SEO. See my examples below.

To learn more about my new book Visual Marketing Secrets™: How to Use Smartphone Photography to Engage Online and Get More Customers, click here.

Everyone with a smartphone is familiar with the term “selfie,” but most people never thought of using their smartphone as a powerful visual marketing tool. With this simple step-by-step guide, you’ll learn how to captivate your audiences with smartphone photography and never miss an opportunity to market your business online again.